Epitaph
"Some believe the Forerunner preferred desolate places. Others suggest that few other sites survived the Flood." Epitaph know primarly during the Moderation War as Epitaph Tower, is a multiplayer map featured in Halo 3. Situated in an enclosed Forerunner "Cathedral", this asymmetric map is best for free-for-all gametypes, such as Slayer, King of the Hill, and Oddball, and small team games, such as Team Slayer and One-Flag. The Map, that was once used as a fun Forge map for Matchmaking became a massive field Head Quarters for the Seven Sages during the Moderation War against Condemned after the Fall of Sandbox, but the Server was eventually found and Overrun by Chaos, who had somehow managed to break the Kill Barriers of the Map and spawn an army down in the Desert including a Single Scorpion Tank. The Fall of Epitaph would eventually force the Seven Sages to abandon Halo 3, completely and take Refugee in Halo 2 Anniversary of the Master Chief Collection on the Server Map AWASH, where a new Island Field HQ was created, in order to temporarily replace both Sandbox and Epitath. ''History During the hours of Viral Day, on October 4th, 2015, Epitaph, (Like Sandbox, Stand Off, Citadel and Heretic) were left untouched, due to Xbox Live Players no longer being present during the time of the Chas Invasion of the Xbox Live server. The map was left empty, until it was eventually used by the Seven Sages as their new headquarters, following the fall of Sandbox on October 15th. Epitaph had become not only the secondary headquarters for the Sages, but a strategic listening out post, as due to the map being coded and designed by Bungie to be at such a high altitude standing from the Desert below, the map became a perfect spot in order for the expert modders to create software in order to be used as radio waves, which was able to detect news broadcasts, and even conversations between Chaos and Condemned himself. From October 15th, to early November, Epitaph was responsible for aiding the Sages in locating and destroying multiple vital Chaos assets all across Halo 3, while at the same time even learning of High Noon Outpost, in Halo Reach. Epitaph was eventually discovered and Invaded by Chaos on November 8th, 2015, about 25 days after Sandbox had fallen. Despite maintaining a good defense on the map, while using the Balconing's in order to gain the advantage over the Chaos Invasion that spawned in the desert below the map, the base would eventually become overwhelmed, once again driving out the Seven Sages to the point that the surviving Xbox Live players would end up trapped in Halo Wars. Epitaph was held under Chaos, and was transformed, due to the effects of the Deep Web coding, merging with the video game coding, where like Sandbox, the map was destroyed, by the background sky image and effects, which was set to be a still image featuring a severe sand storm in the distance, had been crossed over and covered the entire map, revealing nothing but sand storms, with lightning strikes. Despite Epitaph's usefulness, Chaos never officially bothered to use the tower for any forms listening, deciphering, or any form of intelligent type purposes during their war with the Seven Sages, and instead used it as a initial storage unit in order to stow away new weapons and equipment that was created by the Condemned from the Dark Network. The map was attacked at one point by November 16th, 2015 by the Seven Sages 12 days after its capture, in an attempt to reclaim it, but due to being spawned in the deserts below the map, along side the severe damage done to the map, along side the major Sandstorms, Chaos resistance and lighting strikes proved the map to be too dangerous to fight Chaos on, forcing the Seven Sages despite making it all the way to the map of Epitaph to despawn back to Order Island in Halo 2. Epitaph would eventually be liberated by December 11th, 2015 by the Seven Sages, who at one point attempted to try and hit the tower a second time. Epitaph following it's liberation was then left alone, by the Seven Sages, in order to continue their quest on eliminating the Condemned from Existence, and became a temporary staging area for the Xbox Live Hybrid Clan, who was would later be responsible for the liberation of both Sandtrap and Sandbox 6 days later on December 17th, 2015. After the Moderation War, Epitaph became one of the maps to be redesigned and recoded following its destruction and mixed coding state, where by February 15th, 2017, the map was restored back to its original state. It is unknown if Epitaph Tower was ever used during the events of the Clan Crisis, which took place that same year in 2017, as the map is neither mentioned or shown, revealing that it is possible, that the map at some point in 2017, might have been retired, or deleted from Halo 3's coding, but at one point in September 2nd, 2017, an unidentified gamer, mentioned that he had friends playing on Epitaph, revealing that Epitaph tower is still being operated by a group of unidentified players on Xbox Live. Layout 'Defenses' 'Tower Armory' 'Supply Cache' Gallery DJC-Epitaph Wall.jpg|Frontal View of Elitaph Tower. Tombstone.jpg|Seven Metallic Paths, which surround Epitaph Tower, leading from the Tower all the way to the Deep Desert. Epitaph View Point.JPG|, Epitaph Supply Cache.JPG|Frontal. Armory of Epitaph.JPG|. Epitaph defenses 2.JPG|, |Frontal View of Elitaph Tower. Epitaph Defenses 3.JPG|, |Frontal. Epitaph Defenses 2.JPG|. Epitaph communications wing.JPG|, Trivia'' Category:Halo Universe Servers Category:Halo 3 Maps Category:Halo ODST Maps Category:Servers used in the Moderation War Category:Servers Category:Seven Sages Category:Seven Sage Base of Operations